Sunday, August 22, 2010

Today I have a bit of an unconventional harvest monday. This is the first time I have shared a hop harvest and local foraging. I'll start with some garden tomatoes first though:

The first of the heirloom tomatoes were harvested today. I have harvested a couple early hybrid tomatoes already but these are the ones a gardener longs for. Starting on the left in the so so picture is Cherokee Purple, Pink Berkley Tye Dye & Giant Belgium. The small ones in front are Velvet Red.

This spring I planted three hop varieties, they grow from rhizomes and are perennial. This variety is Cascade and they are used in hoppy beers and American ales. Pretty good harvest for the first year! The next hop harvest will be Nugget which are used to bitter beer. The other variety I am trying is Goldings, it is not putting out many hops the first year so it will be a wash. Below is a closeup of a hop:

This is a Cascade hop cut open. The yellow parts are lupulin glands. They contain most of the essential oils and resins which give beer their flavor.

Here is a bunch of Elderberries that I picked today well out in the country. They grow wild in wet areas. I have never tried these before but they seem to be rather prized by people in the know. They have a blackberry flavor but are very astringent without sugar. The seeds also contain a small amount of cyanide so they have to be cooked before consuming them, this boils the toxins off. They have many uses like syrup, jellies & pies. They are also used to make elderberry wine and added to beer as well. Not sure what I will do with them yet.

I also came across an apple tree growing on the side of a gravel road today. It must have been a cultivated variety at some point, looks kind of like a Golden Delicious. It was really neglected but the apples still looked good. I picked a bunch and will probably go back in a few weeks when they sweeten up more. These ones will be made into an apple pie, mm apple pie.

Foraged food is so much fun. Are you aware that this is the year of the heirloom apple? A century ago there were 15,000 different apple varieties growing in the US. Today there are only 1,500 varieties offered for sale. That great biodiversity is being lost. There is a move afoot (or is it afield?) to seek out old apple trees and if the apples are good, graft them onto new rootstock (apples don't breed true from seed). So if your apple is a good one, see if you can find someplace to save it.

I just try making jelly with my edelberries.... fail it. I prefer eat them from the tree just like that. Not to many in the same time. When you cook them, they didn't smell very good! And now I found the "sirup" to sweet. I don't know what I will do with them.

That is so cool that you grow your own hops! I would love to see what you do with it for the beer. Do you dry it? That is so cool that there was an apple tree growing on the side of the road where you can just pick the apples. Nice find!

Lucky you to find elderberries! You should make some elderberry jelly...it's the best! There were elderberries growing at my grandfather's one farm when I was young. My mother used to make jelly with the berries. It's worth the work!!

My mom used to make elderberry and elderberry/apple jelly every year and it was delicious. They also made elderberry wine with it as well.

Isn't it amazing how many fruit trees are abandoned or left unattended? I find it mystifying to see fruit trees in inhabited yards with fruit dropping and rotting from the tree because the owners cannot be bothered to care or harvest for them. Such a waste.

It's such a shame to see abandoned apple trees and no one taking the fruit. I was visiting Emily in NH at the beginning of the month and you see the apple trees along the road side just begging to be picked.

Enjoy your apple pie. Glad to hear someone is getting the apples from one of those trees.

I'm always surprised at the abandoned fruit too. I dropped my daughter off in Waterloo. They have huge plum trees outside her window. No one picks them. They just fall to the ground and rot. All I could think was that I would love to can some of them (but of course I wouldn't have been able to get them across the border).

The length and size of your hops there means they are really happy. Sorry the East Kent Goldings were a bust. I am sure next year, they will respond to the love (and great growing conditions) your other hops got.

There are a few fruit trees in my city on public property. I tried years back to get the city to start up a fruit tree picking program and the apples were just falling to ground and rotting away in the puddle that always seemed to be there. They had no interest. Still, when I pass them by, I make sure to grab a couple. They are good!

Great harvest Monday! Are you making beer then? I'm curious to see how this all plays out. My husband would love if I grew hops.

Nice harvest! I'm planting heirloom tomatoes next year. I can't wait! My Nana used to make elderberry pie for my Grandpa. I remember it as being really good. What luck getting those apples. Your pie should be great.~~Lori

The hops are splendid. Will be great using them in your ales. My go at starting them from seed failed but I'm keen on having a crop in the garden, even just for the show. So pretty ! Will try again next year.